JaxBandster

Amy you look fantastic!!!!!!!!!!! Keep up the great work!!!

Make sure to reward yourself for doing such a good job!!!!!!!!

Tap, don't cry! Peanuts have lots of protein!! You could have binged on something far worse! Don't beat yourself up, just move forward! Hugs!

Wow it sure is great to see everyone flocking back home where they belong!!!!! Apples I bet your husband was absolutely thrilled!!! Mine just doesn't want me to get too skinny! LOL For you guys that are experiencing slow loss and/or have no restriction, I would be demanding fills! We didn't get the band to have it empty! Yes we need to do it slowly but you should be getting fills every month. I just had my third in a large AP band. 6.5 cc's. I'm like Mac, I'd be pissed if my doctor wasn't doing what needed to be done to make sure I wasn't hungry. As far as hunger goes, make sure you are getting lots of Protein, it will definitely help. Try eating every few hours (small portions and high in protein). Don't lose sight of the prize, it will happen!

You need to come to the states!!! What a bunch of hoooey!

Thanks honey! I'm working on it!!!!!!

Try substituting one treat (the bad one) for another. Now at night I don't have ice cream, I have sugar free/fat free pudding (Jello packages, instant with fat free milk and they come in all flavors) with a couple of dollops of Cool Whip on top. It's absolutely decadent and only between 10-12 carbs (if you count carbs). I make sure to have a bowl if I behaved myself particularly well during the day and I have room to allocate for the carbs. I really feel like I'm being bad but I'm not. Give it a try

If you had a hiatal hernia repair at the same time as your lap band surgery (which is common) this can cause pain in your left shoulder for a while. This may also be a symptom of fullness for you. Take some liquid tylenol for the pain, also a heating pad on your shoulder might help as well.

Gibson I know it must be extremely frustrating to be losing slowly; however, on the bright side, that will give your body more time to adjust and for the skin to reshape around your body! Also, you weigh less than when you started this whole ordeal so any progress is good. Slow and steady wins the race right? I don't know if there is anything you can change in your diet to help move things along. All I can say is to make sure you are getting plenty of Water (or other sugar free fluids), get plenty of Protein and watch your carbs. Of course, you already know this Just keep up the great work! You ARE making progress! If it makes you feel any better, I've heard of people losing a lot slower than you so you aren't the slowest by a long shot! Take care of that finger and your cold!

I have to back Crystal up on her comments. The band is not about starving or depriving oneself of essential nutrients. One of the reasons that people choose the band is because other weight loss surgeries have a tendency to result in malnutrition. The wonderful thing about the band is that it allows your body to absorb the nutrients that you consume. The optimal band restriction should allow you to eat at least a few ounces of Protein, a quarter cup of veggies and maybe a few bites of carbs if you have any room left. Protein is extremely important to our diet as well as fat. You HAVE to have a little fat in your diet. I know this for a fact as my best friend has been going to an endocrinologist for her weight problems. She weighed over 400 lbs and has lost 50 by barely eating anything. The doctor just told her yesterday that she is suffering from malnourishment especially a Vitamin D deficiency which is mimicking the symptoms of fibromyalgia. The woman is living in pain because she isn't getting the nutrients she needs because she is desperately trying to lose weight. As it turns out, her weight problem is specifically linked to a disease which is attacking her thyroid. She is under strict instructions to immediately begin eating again in order to get the nutrients she needs. My point is that we can take our efforts to lose weight too far to the point of it being detrimental to our health. Trying to feed your body one bite of food at a time and expect it to burn fuel efficiently is unrealistic. Give your body the fuel it needs to keep your metabolism fired up and you will lose faster than if you starve yourself. Be healthy.

Just took a new progress photo! I'm loving my band!!!

You hit onederland??????????????????????? Hooooooray!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That's fantastic!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Great job!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Oh I can't wait until I get to knock on Mr. Onederland's door!!!!!!!!!! I hope he'll let me in too!!!!! :thumbup: :thumbup::hurray::thumbup::)

Becca In the grand scheme of things you probably didn't do so bad. I mean, what you ate was extremely healthy. Yes you indulged a bit, but I know you are like me and 99% of the time you are always watching what you eat carefully. I have already lost the pound I gained from my cookie binge, so if you do gain a pound back just behave for the next couple of days and it will be gone again. I think it is important to not feel extreme guilt when indulging occasionally. I think it is okay to indulge as long as we realize what we are doing and immediately make plans to get back on track, just like you did with the Protein shake. Otherwise, like I mentioned in my confession above, you eventually begin to feel deprived and that will eventually lead to sabotaging your diet or feelings of depression. I want to know that if I feel strongly that I want to indulge, I can. Just like anyone else who eats "normally". The way we ate before wasn't normal, but now we do and normal people splurge every once in a while. They just don't splurge every day like we used to! So, I hope that you really enjoyed your chips and salsa and the flan. I hope you savored every bite and now are ready to resume eating like a bandster! You're doing great my fellow bandster buddy! Hugs!!

I rarely have to confess and I'm not sure I'm confessing now! LOL I stick to my meal plan religiously. I rarely eat during the day just because I forget or am too lazy to cook anything so I drink a lot of Water. At night I try to keep my portions small (don't always succeed), eat mostly meat and veggies and very little in the way of carbs. My doctor requires me to stay below 30 gms of carbs a day and I almost always am well below that. Last week I started having some major sweet cravings. It's been four months since I indulged my sweet tooth. I may have stolen a bite or two of a dessert my husband was having, but have yet to have a full blown decadent sweet fix. Well this weekend my daughter made these huge icing covered sugar Cookies. (I'm talking 5" across!) I decided that now was the time I was going to allow myself to indulge without guilt and I did. It was unbelievably yummy. Took me 20 minutes to eat it as I ate the icing first and then the cookie! LOL By the time I was done I actually couldn't finish the last bite because I just couldn't eat anything else sweet! I gave it to the dog. Yesterday we went to a baseball game and after having a hamburger patty and a salad with no fat ranch dressing on it I splurged once more and had an ice cream bar. (another one of my weaknesses). It is now Monday, I have gotten it out of my system, I don't have a sweet craving any more and I don't feel I need to forgive myself because I made a conscious decision to satisfy my sweet tooth. I'm back on track and ready to move forward again. It only appears to have cost me a pound, maybe two as I was in the process of dropping weight over the weekend but that's okay. I'll lose it. I'm not racing and I'm still on track to reach my goal well before the end of the year which was my timeline when I started. So, I can eat what I want in moderate amounts, indulge my sweet tooth once in a while so I don't feel deprived and I can still lose weight. I love my band!!!!!!!

Congratulations Jamie!!!! You are doing great! Keep rocking that band!!!!

Becca you are so cute and such a natural in front of the camera!!!!!! Great job!!!!!!!!!!! And OMG I loved the nervous squirrel picture in the 2nd episode!!! I was cracking up!!!!

Becca!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! <POUNCE> See what happens when you pop up? Everyone comes out of the woodwork complaining about the same damn thing! LOL I also have that 50 lbs left to go syndrome. It doesn't help that everyone is telling me how great I look and I look in the mirror and think, "Yeah, I'm looking pretty good!" But then I also still have these massive areas of fat in the thighs, hips and tummy and know that I need to get that remaining 50 lbs off! I've actually been on a plateau for the past three weeks as well. Been driving me crazy because 90% of the time I behave myself so well. I manage to stay away from carbs, eat lots of Protein, make good food choices, increased my Water consumption, etc etc etc, but the stupid scale wouldn't budge! The past couple of days it has decided to go down a half a pound a day each so maybe I'm finally breaking through. If not, my third fill tomorrow should do the trick!!! I believe I currently have 6.5 cc's in my large band which can hold 14. I have had good restriction, I certainly eat less than I used to by a LONG shot but I sometimes wonder if I'm still able to eat too much at a sitting. For instance, tonight I had a 6 oz filet mignon and two scrambled eggs with cheese in them. I was able to eat it all. I'm still quite full though six hours later and find that I'm rarely hungry throughout the day as long as I'm continuously drinking my water. I did have a battle today with carb cravings. ANY carbs, whether they be sweets or bread or Pasta. I was at the grocery store today and had a more difficult time than normal staying focused especially when I had to buy my daughter cookie mix and icing for the Cookies she was wanting to make for her classmates, then having to smell them when she baked. So far I've managed to hold out. In fact I kept telling myself, tomorrow is fill day and you won't be able to have any of that so just hang in there!!! I did and I'm glad I did! My next battle is exercise. I love to walk but I can't due to my plantar fasciitis, so I need to get on my bicycle and ride but haven't done so yet. I HAVE been much more active though, working in the yard, mowing, weed whacking, pulling weeds, etc. and I also steam cleaned the carpets yesterday in the house. This is stuff that I could have never done before so I'm really enjoying being able to get around easier. Okay enough of my gabbing. Going to go watch Becca's tummy movie! LOL

No restrictions before, clear liquids for about 1/2 a day, then I can have protein shakes. I can do mushies about 24 hours or so after that, then regular food on day two. He always warns me to be conservative though and retest things that I ate before as I may have more difficulty with them after I am tighter.

Don't worry, we'll be here to cheer you on when your yacht gets to the first buoy!!!!! LOL

Well that's kinda cool. I have to admit I didn't know what the heck it was either! LOL Is that something like a super delegate? LOL

Can I get in on that too??? I hit 219.5 today. Onederland by July 4th could be doable right? It's a goal anyway! According to my FitDay chart I should be 183 by July 11th! (That would only be 13 lbs from my goal weight as well!) Holy smoke, can you imagine beginning your weight with a one instead of a two???? I can't remember doing that it's been so long.

So does kinky sex burn more calories than vanilla sex? Just wondering

Kristy Fills are a progressive kind of thing. You have only had one fill. It usually takes three or more to get where you want to be. I have had two fills and will be getting another one on May 2nd. Right now I can gulp water as well and usually don't have any trouble with normal bites of food. I do get full quicker however. In the interim between fills, once you have lost the restriction you had right after getting your fill, work on eating Protein. Make sure that your Snacks are not soft foods but more dense. lunch meat, cheese, boiled eggs, etc. Protein stays with you longer and helps satisfy your hunger. Stay away from carb laden snacks as they will only intensify your cravings. Drink lots of fluids as they will also help with your hunger and will help flush your system out as well. You can do it. You won't fail. And the band won't fail you either. I know many people who have named their band Patience, and for good reason. LOL Keep us posted how you are doing and congrats on the weight loss so far!

LOL I do have a waist now don't I?????? LOL Sweet! Somehow it's always harder to see the changes in yourself.

I don't know! LOL My doctor has me on low carb. That's the only thing I can attribute it to. Well that and usually not getting above 800 calories a day! LOL Just working hard. Have definitely increased my activity by working the yard a lot. Have just begun to drink more Water. But haven't started an exercise program yet. Probably at the point where I need to. Just trying to figure out where to fit it in my day!